Swisscom is an important partner of ours, which is why we were delighted to have it sponsor Appway Sphere for Banking Geneva. At the event, Roger Fehr, Swisscom’s Head of Data Management & Analytics, took to the stage to share his take on how predictive analytics can impact your business. Appway and Swisscom definitely agree on the importance of data—while Fehr emphasized the significance of learning from customer data to unlock the potential of those clients, Appway CEO Hans Peter Wolf explained earlier in the day that soon, "efficient onboarding and ‘re-boarding’ will be key, and data will be in the center."

The potential of predictive analytics

During his presentation, "Learn from the Past: Tap the Upselling Potential," Fehr recommended four steps to achieving data management success:

2. Data StorageData is unlikely to be in one specific data warehouse. Dispersed data requires strengthening security controls, which will improve everything from monitoring and accessibility to availability, privacy, quality, and traceability.

4. Data ValorizationDefine a model to obtain predictive analytics that have potential for the whole bank, not just one department.

Why are these steps so essential to success?

Let's take a step back and look at the bigger picture.

Many in the financial services industry have accepted that self-service channels for clients are required to stay relevant and in tune with customer needs. In the banking sector, for example, Appway already provides the technology required to build these solutions in an efficient and elegant manner.

However, what's now becoming clearer is the central role that clients themselves play in feeding their data to their financial service providers. The impact that this personalized, contextual data brings to your business shouldn’t be underestimated. It means service providers must continuously readjust to and accommodate customers based on information from their most recent interactions. From this perspective, systematically collecting and analyzing data across different interaction modes (digital and physical) is key to understanding and responding to client needs in real time.